Good Samaritan pushes Mumbai cops to save ailing old man

Good Samaritan pushes Mumbai cops to save ailing old man

Murlidhar Bhosale, the old man who was found lying on the Eastern Express Highway

Even as the Mumbai police's senior citizen helpline failed to deliver, a Good Samaritan's unrelenting effort to ensure that help reached an old man, lying naked on the street, saved the latter's life.

Mayurraj Howladar, a customer service executive, was on his way home from work, when he spotted an old man near Chedda Nagar, on the Eastern Express Highway. "The man was shivering, and looked visibly unwell," said Howladar. He immediately dialed 1090 - the Mumbai police's Elder Line - and requested the call-centre to urgently attend to the old man. Howladar then called up his brother, and asked him to rush to the spot with something to cover up the old man.

"My brother arrived within a few minutes and we wrapped the man in a shawl. However, despite alerting the helpline, no help arrived," said Howladar. After 30 minutes had passed, a frustrated Howladar then tweeted about it and tagged the Mumbai police. Surprisingly, the Mumbai police actually responded. "I was shocked to see their prompt response," said Howladar. "They first asked me to share the location details on Twitter and within 15 minutes help arrived and the old man was taken to the hospital," he added.

The man, later identified as Murlidhar Bhosale (60), is now admitted to Rajawadi Hospital. "When Bhosale was brought to the hospital, he was shivering due to cold. He also had high blood pressure. We have admitted him to conduct a detailed diagnosis," Dr Jagdish Jadhav, chief medical officer, Rajawadi Hospital.

Mayurraj Howladar, the customer executive who rescued the senior citizen

Howladar further said, "There was no help from the resource group dedicated to help the senior citizens from the city. I was later told that they had first made one round, but could not locate us. I am sure that when senior citizens call for help, they won't be able to give their accurate location. The helpline needs to understand this."

When contacted, Constable Prashant Sarode of Elder Line said, "We registered the complaint from the citizen and it was forwarded to the control, which then directs local authorities to reach the spot. We will not be able to talk about the delay."

A constable from Pant Nagar police station, which was part of the team that had initially failed to locate the senior citizen, said, "We couldn't find the spot, but we continued our efforts and spotted them the second time."